How JustAnswer Works:

Experts are full of valuable knowledge and are ready to help with any question. Credentials confirmed by a Fortune 500 verification firm.

Get a Professional Answer

Via email, text message, or notification as you wait on our site.Ask follow up questions if you need to.

100% Satisfaction Guarantee

Rate the answer you receive.

Ask JGM Your Own Question

JGM, Solicitor

Category: Scots Law

Satisfied Customers: 8797

Experience: 28 years as a practising solicitor.

31090051

Type Your Scots Law Question Here...

JGM is online now

Part of our neighbours property was sold forty years ago by

Resolved Question:

Part of our neighbour’s property was sold forty years ago by the previous owners.It has recently been discovered by us that in that sale the conveyancing documents improperly included part of our property. And that this part of our property had subsequently been demolished. ( The solicitors responsible at that time no longer exist, having been taken over and absorbed by a larger firm. )

Question: Is there a time limit which would prevent us from challenging the improper conveyancing of part of our property to our neighbour ? If there is no time limit, what redress have we for the improper conveyancing and subsequent demolition of part of our property ?

The law says that where a piece of land is conveyed to another and no challenge is made to the conveyance for a period of 10 years, any defect in the title or other irregularity becomes cured.

Accordingly, the land you refer to now belongs to the neighbouring property.

Whether you have any redress against the solicitors who acted at the time depends on whether you ever owned the property with this piece of land or not. If you owned the property 40 years ago and the land has essentially been removed from your title unbeknown to you, then you may be able to make a claim to the solicitors' professional indemnity insurers, who are brokered by Marsh UK Limited in Edinburgh. There will still be run off insurance cover even if the firm ceased to exist.

However if you bought the property more recently then you bought the property as it stands and you have no remedy.

Happy to discuss further.

I hope this helps. Please leave a positive response so that I am credited for my time.

Ask a Lawyer

Get a Professional Answer. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed.

61 Lawyers are Online Now

Type Your Scots Law Question Here...

characters left:

DISCLAIMER: Answers from Experts on JustAnswer are not substitutes for the advice of an attorney. JustAnswer is a public forum and questions and responses are not private or confidential or protected by the attorney-client privilege. The Expert above is not your attorney, and the response above is not legal advice. You should not read this response to propose specific action or address specific circumstances, but only to give you a sense of general principles of law that might affect the situation you describe. Application of these general principles to particular circumstances must be done by a lawyer who has spoken with you in confidence, learned all relevant information, and explored various options. Before acting on these general principles, you should hire a lawyer licensed to practice law in the jurisdiction to which your question pertains.

The responses above are from individual Experts, not JustAnswer. The site and services are provided “as is”. To view the verified credential of an Expert, click on the “Verified” symbol in the Expert’s profile. This site is not for emergency questions which should be directed immediately by telephone or in-person to qualified professionals. Please carefully read the Terms of Service (last updated February 8, 2012).